Modern mobile electronic devices (such as mobile phones, personal digital assistants, computer tablets, or the like) have become a common part of modern life. These devices increasingly provide advanced computing capabilities along with a variety of other features and options that improve the user's experience with the device. Some common examples of the features and options include cameras, Wi-Fi, SMS and MMS messaging, web browsers, voice/video calling, and GPS capabilities. In addition to these common features and options, modern electronic devices often include operating systems that can run software applications on one or more processors. The software applications can be installed (e.g., by the manufacture, mobile carrier, or by the user) on these devices to perform a variety of specific tasks and/or extend the functionality of the devices.
The software applications may use many of the hardware and other software components of the mobile devices. As the demands and functionality of the software applications increase, so does the frequency of use for these components. Not only are the demands and functionality increasing, but the mobile devices are becoming smaller and the features and applications are competing for various limited resources (e.g., memory). In order to distinguish between similar or identical devices, mobile carriers often customize the devices by providing additional applications and/or locking/unlocking various features. Traditionally, these customizations are flashed onto the devices at the factory and require a second flashing to change. This type of manual updating process can create a variety of inventory problems, among other problems.
The drawings have not necessarily been drawn to scale. Similarly, some components and/or operations may be separated into different blocks or combined into a single block for the purposes of discussion of some of the embodiments of the present technology. Moreover, while the technology is amenable to various modifications and alternative forms, specific embodiments have been shown by way of example in the drawings and are described in detail below. The intention, however, is not to limit the technology to the particular embodiments described. On the contrary, the technology is intended to cover all modifications, equivalents, and alternatives falling within the scope of the technology as defined by the appended claims.